AIDS policy could bring new money

South Africa could receive new money from the Global AIDS Fund when the next round of proposals are approved, the Fund's executive director, Richard Feachem, has said. Several proposals for new grants to cover both HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programmes in developing countries are likely to be approved in October. Feachem's statement follows a recent reversal in the country's HIV/AIDS policy by the South African cabinet, which now aims to develop a national antiretroviral treatment plan. He said the cabinet announcement represented a genuine change in policy, adding that the decision was "absolutely in good faith and will lead to a rapid [treatment] scale-up". "We will see a rapid move in South Africa, with large numbers of people quickly going onto antiretrovirals," Feachem said.